Former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer says not permanently stopping downloadable plastic guns “will increase the challenges of protecting the security of members of Congress, their staffs and visitors to the Capitol.” (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Updated 3:26 p.m. | The only person to hold both top law enforcement roles at the Capitol says downloadable plastic guns would pose an added challenge of “detection and defense” for those who protect Capitol Hill.

Everybody seems to have an association in Washington these days, so let’s pretend Islamist terrorists have one too. Travel and visas aren’t an issue for them, since American citizens are increasingly planning and carrying out terror attacks. So their No. 1 issue would probably be making sure that terrorists have easy access to the weapons they need for such attacks.

It’s true that terrorists have used box cutters and pressure cookers to strike at Americans in the past, but because guns have been used for the majority of attacks since 9/11, let’s name the association accordingly: the Radical Islamist Rifle Association.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, locked in a tough re-election fight, has been a beneficiary of National Rifle Association giving in the current campaign cycle. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

As senators prepare to vote on divisive gun measures on Monday, lobbying organizations such as the National Rifle Association, as well as high-dollar K Street donors, have ratcheted up pressure campaigns on lawmakers.

Senators will vote Monday on a proposal to prohibit firearms sales to people on terror watch lists, as part of a larger Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill. Other amendments would extend background checks on gun sales.

President Barack Obama on Thursday called for new federal gun control measures after a meeting with family members of victims of Sunday’s Orlando mass shooting , saying the parents he met there “don’t care about politics.”

After the president and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. laid 49 white roses — one for each Pulse nightclub patron killed — at a memorial in the Central Florida city, Obama told reporters the family members’ collective grief “is beyond description.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is a former basketball player, prosecutor and private attorney. (Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images for EMILY's List)

Maura Healey has one word to describe the gun lobby — ridiculous.

The Massachusetts attorney general says it’s “ridiculous” the National Rifle Association has so much control over gun rights debates. “Ridiculous” that Congress won’t allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence as a public health issue. And “ridiculous” that people who are a danger to themselves and others can get guns.